Kiwi men pay more to get their shoes repaired than women

WELLINGTON - A survey of several shoe repairers in Auckland has found that men often pay more to get their shoes repaired than women.

The survey showed that the price of placing “cover soles” on a pair of women’s shoes started at about 35 dollars a pair, depending on how much work was involved and the materials required.

While the same service for men’s shoe starts at about 40 dollars a pair.

Dr Shoe in the city centre charges about 46 dollars for repairing women’s shoes.

“Realistically a male sole starts at 40 dollars for the pair and with the heel you’re looking at about 65 to 70 dollars … but it does depend, there may be extra things going on in the shoe,” the New Zealand Herald quoted a man who answered the phone as saying.

“Women get a great deal and the men do pay a little bit more but that’s worldwide,” the man stated.

The man said he had no idea why women paid less, as he believed women’s shoes required more work.

“I guess predominantly male shoe repairers would look after women, it’s just how it is, I guess,” he said about the price difference between the sexes.

But David Yeates, co-owner of Expert Shoe and Bag Repairs on Karangahape Rd, where it costs about 65 dollars for a new sole and heel on women’s shoes and about 85 dollars for men’s shoes, said men’s shoes often needed more work.

“They don’t necessarily look after their shoes like the girls do,” he said.

“Girls have lots of shoes so they tend to alternate them more whereas guys, they tend to get a pair and then thrash them … there’s usually a lot more work that needs to be done on them.

“Some of the shoes we see guys bringing in are unbelievable. They wear them out so badly,” he added.

Gemmell’s Footwear cobbler Fred Townsend said men’s shoes usually cost more to repair because they were larger than women’s and required more materials or work. (ANI)